Capitol Confidential

At 25-years-old, Jim Skoufis was elected to the state Assembly.

With six years of Capitol experience under his belt, he is making the leap next year to the state Senate, where he joins a new Democratic majority.

Skoufis joined the podcast to talk about his decision to run, the congressional race that never materialized, his plans on running a robust oversight committee and the "passionate" approach he brings to his job.

The conversation also touches on his recent campaign and one of his pet policy projects.

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The political career of Andrea Stewart-Cousins began as a volunteer on a city council race in Yonkers, and nearly three decades later she will take on the role of majority leader in the state Senate.

This evolution and much more about the Democratic leader was the subject of an in-depth profile by Times Union reporter Rachel Silberstein. This episode of the Capitol Confidential podcast features excerpts of their conversation.

The interview touched on her plans for addressing sexual harassment, the role for the Senate Republicans in 2019 and how time as a journalist shaped her relationship with the media today.

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New York's lawmakers are poised to get $30,500 raise in January, and an additional $10,000 in the following two years.

New York Law Journal reporter Dan Clark joined the podcast to explain the process that led to the first salary increases in two decades, including the special committee created in the state budget, the buyer's remorse from the Legislature and potential legal challenges.

The episode dives deep into the committee's actions and highlights the unanswered questions that could blow everything up.

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Compared to serving in combat overseas, Democrat Aaron Gladd's campaign for state Senate was a walk in the park.

His underdog campaign to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Kathy Marchione was waged without any muscle from Senate Democrats and in a deep red district, where Senate Republicans and special interests spent heavily to keep the seat from flipping hands.

Along the way to a 10,00 vote loss (which was a much closer margin than any recent efforts by Democrats in the district), Gladd picked up the endorsement from former Republican Sen. Roy McDonald, raised a ton of money and (unsuccessfully) tried to bridge the partisan divide.

He joined the podcast to talk about his decision to run, the negative attacks during the campaign, his lack of future political plans and much more.

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The highly anticipated "Blue Wave" delivered on Election Day in New York, where Democrats won an overwhelming majority in the state Senate and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo cruised to a third term in office.

USA Today Network's Jon Campbell joined the podcast to explain the results and what they mean for the upcoming legislative session.

The conversation addressed the races that turned the Senate from red to blue, the future of New York's third parties, and the agenda that will dominate the Capitol starting in January.

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The state Senate has never been more exciting!

Control of the narrowly divided 63-seat chamber is up for grabs on Election Day, and a handful of races are toss ups and more are well positioned for an upset.

To breakdown the most important races the podcast turned to local reporters from Long Island, the Hudson Valley, central New York and the Capital Region for insights from the districts.

The conversations explore the local issues, outside spending, voting trends and the affect of the top of the ticket.

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Election Day is less than two weeks away and the fate of New York's most competitive congressional races is still a bit hazy.

To help bring some clarity to the campaigns, political data analyst Noah Rudnick joined the podcast to explain his election forecasting model and explore the underlying fundamentals in the hotly contested congressional seats, including the 19th Congressional District race between Republican incumbent John Faso and Democratic challenger Antonio Delgado.

The conversation explored the role campaign spending, past election results and demographics play in political prognostications, and Noah also shared his predictions for the House of Representatives elections in New York.

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David Carlucci, an original member of the state Senate's Independent Democratic Conference and one of two to survive the primary night purges, joined the podcast for a look back and forward.

The conversation examined the breakaway conference's founding and folding, his experience rejoining the Democratic fold and the potential for control of the chamber can flip.

Carlucci also offered advice for the likely new class of millennial senators, experiencing the opioid epidemic as a town official and the fate of controversial campaign funds.

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If 1992 was the "Year of the Woman," then 2018 is the "Year of Women."

Across the country a record number of women are pursuing elected office and New York is seeing the same trend, with more than 100 women running for state legislative races this year.

Two of those candidates, Michelle Ostrelich, a Democratic state Senate hopeful, and Mary Beth Walsh, a Republican member of the state Assembly, joined the podcast to talk about their only path in politics.

The conversations also explore the need for women in government, the disparity between female Democratic candidates and female Republican candidates, the role of outside groups supporting women's political aspirations and President Donald J. Trump.

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There is widespread support for victims of child sexual abuse, but a comprehensive bill to make it easier to hold offenders accountable in criminal and civil court has failed to become law in New York.

Gary Greenberg, a child sex abuse survivor, joined the podcast to talk about his advocacy for the Child Victims Act, which has been stymied by Senate Republicans.

He talked about the root of his activism, the failed attempt to reach a compromise, and the importance of civil actions against perpetrators of sexual abuse.

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